The Seeker
by The Anti-Stratigist
Summary: Ian gets captured by seekers, and finds something that surprises him.


The Seeker

Ian woke with a gasp and looked around at white, sterile walls. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was going to the store with Wanda. He looked around the room. Wanda wasn't there. The human breath came faster as he started to panic. What had happened? Where was Wanda!?

"You might as well calm down. Panicking won't really help you here." A female voice said.

Ian froze then turned to look directly behind him and studied what he found there. Female, all white clothes. He looked higher and felt dread coil in his gut. Ribboned eyes. A Seeker it must be, who else would come to interrogate him?

The woman scoffed, "You really need to relax. Panicking will only make it harder for you to think clearly."

The human glared, "Does it really matter if I can think clearly or not? Your just going to implant a soul in me anyway."

The Seeker nodded in approval, "You're a fighter I see. That's good, you'll need that. But, unlike most of my companions, I prefer to ask the host for answers before forcing them to give me them via implantation of a soul. So tell me, are you a lone human just trying to survive or do you operate with a group?"

Ian relaxed slightly as relief sped through him. If they thought he might be alone than surely Wanda and the others hadn't been captured with him. "Groups? There are groups of humans?" he deflected.

The woman smiled, "That was a nice try at deflection; but the rather obvious relief you should before answering makes me think there were others with you that escaped." Ian tensed and the female continued, "But no matter, other humans are not my concern right now, just you."

The human was confused, "Whats the point of questioning me if you don't care about what I tell you?"

A knock on the door interrupted the females response, and as she opened the door, a male Seeker step into the room holding a silvery capsule that Ian recognized and the dread in his gut coiled deeper.

The female Seeker looked back at the prisoner only to see him studying to room carefully, "If you're looking for a way to kill yourself don't bother. These rooms are empty, and purposefully so. We even had to take the lavatory out after one human got really creative." She turned to her ally and took the capsule, and a silvery canister of medicine that Ian knew would be used to knock him out, "Thank you Light in the Dark, I'll take it from here."

The male seeker nodded to her and left the room.

As soon as the door closed the woman came and knelt in front of Ian. The man recoiled away from her. But paused when she spoke, "I told you before, relax. Now I need you to listen very carefully to and do exactly as I say or we'll both be in trouble. Light in the Dark came sooner than I expected so I didn't get to get all the answers I wanted from you, but now I know you have a group, most likely a family, who's very worried about you. So if you'll promise to do exactly as I say, I'll do what I can to get you back to them."

The human looked at the Seeker distrustfully. It was a trick; it had to be. Seekers didn't just promise freedom for humans. His thoughts turned to Wanda, one soul did, but she wasn't a seeker. "What's the catch?" He asked.

"Don't ever get caught again. Die in a way that disfigures your face, and like I said before, do exactly as I say." she answered.

Ian shook his head he didn't understand what was going on, this could all be a trick to lead seekers to the others. That didn't make sense though. It would be easier to just implant him with a soul and steal the knowledge. Doubt was warring with trust as he tried to decide what to do. But the thought that kept coming back to him was that Wanda had changed sides, and he knew that there was at least one more besides her that had turned. Why couldn't this seeker also have changed. Maybe the voice in her head had softened her heart... After several minutes of deep thought he looked up at the woman, "What do you want me to do?"

The Seeker let out a breath of relief and smiled as she pulled out a pair of sun glasses. "Put these on and act as if you had a migraine. Then just follow my lead."

The Human put on the sunglasses and to follow her as she went to the door and opened it, "I have implanted the soul, Echos Long, in the human; but it is having trouble."

The male Seeker turned to look at Ian in concern, "What happened?"

"Echos Long was last on the world Cueva Oscura, living in one of it's deepest caves. After the extreme darkness of his last world the light of this one is too much. It is causing him pain." The woman replied, "I am taking him to his temporary living quarters where the shades can be drawn. I am hoping that will help."

Light in the Dark nodded, "I see, do you want me to come with you?"

The female shook her head, "Thank you Light in the Dark," Ian groaned as if even hearing the word light caused him pain, "I can manage, but if you would go to the healers... perhaps they may have a medicine that can help."

"I will go." the man said and immediately turned towards the healers.

The female Seeker grabbed the humans arm and pulled him along as she walked. It didn't take long for them to reach his temporary quarters. "Lie down on the bed and put a pillow over your head." she said as she pulled all the curtains closed and turned of the light, leaving the room very dark.

It didn't take long for Ian to realize why she wanted him to do that. Why did she have to make him unable to handle the light? He questioned as he did as she asked.

A few minutes later there was a light knock on the door and Light in the Dark stepped in, holding a canister of medicine. The Woman went over to him and took it. "Thank you my friend, I'll see if this works and let you know." The male seeker recognizing the dismissal, nodded and once again walked out the door.

"You know," Ian said, "Most souls are terrible liars, but you don't seem to have a problem with it."

The Seeker smiled, "Other souls are very trusting, that makes it easier. I'd get comfortable. You'll need to stay in this dark room for at least a week. In order for my plan to work. Now I have some other things I need to take care of, if another seeker comes in act like you're sleeping or in too much pain to talk, or some other thing to get them to leave you alone."

The human nodded then realizing she probably wouldn't be able to see such a gesture in this dark room opened his mouth, "I will."

The women left soon after that.

.

.

The Seeker left Ian's room pondering over how she should work getting the human out of here and hoping he would do a she told him to. She walked with a purpose to the loading bays for the capsules that held the precious souls. And set the capsule containing the soul she had not implanted today in the loading bay for the farthest planet from earth. As she stood and watched it shoot off into the distance she felt relief at one less soul being on this world.

.

.

Ian thought he was going to go mad. The Seeker, who he'd learned was named Dancing Waters, had been wrong. He'd already been stuck in this dark room for two weeks and if he didn't get out of here soon the boredom would kill him. The daily visits from his seeker just weren't enough.

Meanwhile, Dancing Waters was speaking to several of the other seekers about Echos Long, "He is recovering... Slowly. Honestly, I think we should send him to live up in the place the humans called Alaska the nights are long there and the days short. It might help him to become more acclimated to the light of the planet to start in such a dark place."

Light in the Dark spoke up, "If he's having so much trouble with the light of this world, perhaps we should remove him and send him to a darker planet."

The woman shook her head, "Not yet, Echos Long in intrigued by this world, it isn't quite like any other he's been to. I think he just needs time to acclimate more. If he goes to Alaska and that doesn't help, then perhaps we can think of that option."

One of the other seekers added their input, "There is another matter too, we still need to find out if that human knew other humans."

It was Light in the Dark who answered, "Echos long has already told us what we need to know."

The other seeker nodded, "Then I see no problem in following Dancing Waters plan." The other seekers in the circle all showed their agreement, and on seeing this Dancing waters informed them that she would go and prepare echos long for his journey.

The door to Ian's room opened and the human pretended to be asleep until he heard Dancing Waters call out to him, then he sat up. "How long am I gonna be stuck here? You told me a week two weeks ago."

"I know," the woman said, "It's taken awhile for me to convince the others to let you go considering your... 'condition'." The man could almost hear the quotations in the way she said it, "But you'll be leaving today for top of Alaska. Stay there for at least a month and then go wherever you will. Now follow me. And remember to put on your sunglasses."

Ian stood up and followed her out of the room and to a terminal for some kind of transport. When they got there Dancing Waters stopped and turned around, "This is where I leave you. Do what I have told you for your sake and mine. It will all be over soon."

The human nodded, "I will. And thank you. I'm glad I was lucky enough to get you for a seeker."

The conversation stilled as a train came speeding into the terminal, the seeker gestured toward the train, "This is your ride."

Ian began to walk towards it but paused and turned back, "You know you could always come with me. You wouldn't be the first of your kind to have turned."

The woman smiled, "I suspect if I came with you I would find a soul there." Ian froze, "But I have things I still need to do here, and it's best if I know as little about you and your people as possible. But I thank you for the offer. Now, it's time for you to go. Good luck."

"Thank you." The human said as he turned and got on the train.

Two months later Ian would rejoin the startled and delighted members of his group, and tell them about the seeker that saved his life.

.

.

That night a tired Dancing Waters walked into her quarters and headed towards the bathroom. She would never let onto anyone how tempting Ian's offer had been.

She reached up and removed one contact from her eye and put it in its case...

...But there were still people she could help here.

She reached up and removed the other contact...

...It wasn't time yet for her to leave.

She looked up into a pair of fully humans eyes...

...She was still trusted.

A/N- So this is an idea that popped into my head while watching the host last night. It's a one shot, but let me know if you think it's worth continuing.


End file.
